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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25645846">keepsake.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/livealive/pseuds/livealive'>livealive</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stray Kids (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, Friendship, Healing, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:14:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,979</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25645846</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/livealive/pseuds/livealive</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>as we grow up, pieces of knowledge inhabits our minds bit by bit and once we learn so much from it we get the idea of fate. a light word but with a deeper meaning. fate carries the destination of life, the end were everyone meets. that one point in life where it might be the end of oneʼs lifetime or it may be a beginning. </p><p>fate holds so much meaning on a personʼs purpose in life and to hwang hyunjin, fate became visible to his life the moment he got locked out of his house.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>keepsake.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>hwang hyunjin, a sophomore in the faculty of arts, got locked outside of his apartment. hyunjin knew he would experience this once in his college life or even further into adulthood. he knew for himself that heʼs quite forgetful and unfortunately, itʼs always the important ones. he left his key inside his apartment and the knobs were all auto-locked. at first he was so pissed about it, he almost threw tantrums from what happened. but not knowing what to do, he just sat down the pavement in front of his home and brought out his camera.</p><p>hyunjin is taking multimedia arts but heʼs more focused on photography. he started taking pictures because of his mom. she told him itʼs the best way to save moments and faces of the most important people. hyunjin never captured faces of people unless itʼs required for school. the only face of a person that was saved in his camera was his momʼs. while hyunjin tried to think on what to do, he captured photos of the neighbourhood. the sky looked good, unlike any other days. he took pictures of the road, trees, edges of roofs when suddenly his camera zoomed on a guy trying to throw a rope on the fence of his balcony.</p><p>“hey, are you trying to take a picture of me?” the guy asked with his brow raised. hyunjin was flustered, “no, you just got caught on my view.”</p><p>“well, if youʼre not then can you help me? i got locked out,” the guy replied. hyunjin tried to suppress his laugh but failed later on. “whatʼs funny?” his neighbor asked again.</p><p>“nothing, nothing. iʼll help you,” hyunjin offered while keeping his camera and walking to the other side of the street. “donʼt tell me... you got locked out too?” his neighbor asked while laughing. it was indeed a weird coincidence, especially for neighbors. hyunjin lifted him on his shoulders, heʼs indeed quite strong. his neighbor finally reached the rope to the balcony and managed to climb up. his neighbor waved at him when he got inside and went out to deliver the great news.</p><p>“thanks for helping me, i thought youʼd be a bitchass neighbor but i thought wrong,” the guy said with a wide smile on his face. “no worries, people tell that to me most of the time. i guess itʼs because of the ponytail,” they both laughed at hyunjinʼs reply. “by the way, iʼm hwang hyunjin. you can come by at the apartment up front if you need help,” hyunjin extended his arm out for a handshake. “han jisung, you can do the same with mine or if you want to just relax or whatever. you can come over,” jisung replied as they shook hands.</p><p>hyunjinʼs day finished with him getting inside his house at night. he picked up a random pin at the street and tried to pick his locks. he didnʼt want to bother jisung so he never asked for help. he was so bummed out the following day because he had classes in early morning. he already yawned for the 10th time before entering history class. he bumped into someone at the front door.</p><p>“hey watch where yo— hyunjin?” jisung double checked if it really was his neighbor. “jisung! youʼre taking history class?” hyunjin asked in surprise. “yeah, needed for architecture,” jisung said while rolling his eyes. “come, sit with me!”</p><p>without realizing much, hyunjin just found himself sitting beside jisung. itʼs not that heʼs uncomfortable, heʼs just not used on suddenly having friends. he never liked the idea of it. itʼs always better for him to be alone, it was peace for him. he didnʼt realize that jisung was talking to him, until someone with a deep voice from the back interrupted jisungʼs story.</p><p>“han, can you keep it down? iʼm trying to sleep here,” the mysterious guy pleaded. “felix, if youʼre here to sleep then how are you going to get smart enough to graduate? you canʼt just copy from me every year,” jisung argued, a little pissed.</p><p>“if only smart people can graduate, then the world wouldʼve been so perfect now, right?” felix replied sarcastically as he scoffed, trying to get back to his sleep. “thatʼs my friend since middle school, lee felix. heʼs just grumpy because he woke up in a noisy environment,” jisung explained.</p><p>“and with the noisy environment... you mean itʼs you, right?” hyunjin responded. “what do you mean? i was trying hard not to be loud!” jisung defends and went back into listening to the lecture. hyunjin found it quite fun, meeting people was indeed nice for him.</p><p>the class ended with hyunjin getting zero knowledge, jisung having ten pages of notes back-to-back, and felix drooling in his sleep. hyunjin has two hours vacant before his next class, he was about to go to the cafeteria when jisung called him. jisung dragged felix along, as if the blonde lad had any choice than coming with them. they all went to the cafeteria to have lunch together. itʼs been a while for hyunjin, not eating alone.</p><p>after buying some food, they walked to jisungʼs spot in the cafeteria. hyunjin bought a meal, not his usual sandwich, because jisung almost turned the counter into a battlefield with felix and told them that they should grab a healthy lunch. as they inch closer to their table, there was someone sitting in there with a phone on his right hand and a portable fan on the other. quite rare for someone to be doing that... at the cafeteria.</p><p>“seungmin, finally! when i see you, i feel peaceful,” jisung uttered as he sat across seungmin. “why? felix bothered you with his lazy ass again?” seungmin asked, not even glancing at jisung. “what do you mean? i never bothered him, heʼs the one that always bothers me!” felix irritably defends.</p><p>“thank goodness the visitor is unbothered by this chaotic lunch,” seungmin says while looking at hyunjin. the latter flinched as he was just eating his lunch while listening to jisung and felix bickering. “iʼm hwang hyunjin,” he introduced himself while trying to extend his arm which seungmin quickly refused.</p><p>“itʼs totally fine. the act of shakehands for formality shouldnʼt be applied to these kinds of introductions,” seungmin explained. “iʼm kim seungmin and iʼm sorry if you met my idiot friends first than me. i was busy playing candy crush.”</p><p>“oh, itʼs fine. they kept me in good company,” hyunjin replied with a smile. “hyunjin, stop covering han for this. we both know he bothered us in history class!” felix argued. “bothered? as if youʼre doing any better than sleeping in class!” jisung responded while sticking his tongue out. “i was dreaming of fortnite, dumbass! and i almost won, you ruined it for me!”</p><p>“and here the wild animals in their usual habitat,” seungmin said while still playing on his phone but now with a spoon on his left hand. lunch today indeed felt like they were in a zoo. felix and jisungʼs endless bickering was really loud and chaotic, but hyunjin didnʼt mind. also, he didnʼt have the time to complain. he tried seungminʼs technique: ignoring. but it didnʼt work as he get dragged everytime and it continued until lunch ended.</p><p>everything felt new to hyunjin, it was rather imaginary. it felt like he was inside a book and it was a new idea of a new chapter where heʼs at the peak of his life that heʼs about to feel real happiness. hyunjin smiled in his sleep, he saved this day in his dreams. it deserves to be treasured. he thought itʼs a one time experience until someone came knocking at his door the next day.</p><p>“slowpoke! get dressed up, letʼs go to school together,” jisung greeted him as soon as he opened the door. it became a routine for hyunjin to spend the day with jisung, felix, and seungmin. he spent days with each one of them, depending on the schedule of their classes. apparently, seungmin was taking photography too, but in a different block section. also, felix who was sleeping every history class was taking up anthropology which definitely doesnʼt look like he studies at all.</p><p>things worked quite well with the four of them, until senior year came like a wave. it was unnecessary for them to have meet ups all the time but they try to work it out. being in different departments gave them a hell of a nuisance everytime they try to relax. it was the most hassle part of the year, they need to graduate. they worked hard for this.</p><p>hyunjin was assigned to take recreational pictures as his final task for his major course. he believed that he has good grades because he had the best people with him. so he decided to go camping with his friends. his only friends. jisung quickly said heʼll come as he needed time to freshen up because he looked like a zombie from cramming his plates. seungmin reserved a vacant day to apply for leave of absence because heʼs already done with his tasks. felix, as usual, only got dragged along because he reasoned out that he needs to study and no one ever believed him with that.</p><p>the fun times where definitely revived in their travel. roadtrips were the best. they sing along with their favorite songs, enjoyed nice views at the road, talk about random memories, and sleep. they rotated drivers so the previous ones can rest. they arrived at a villa, they completely thought it was camping with nothing at all. but it was a villa in the woods and with a beach at the end of it. seungmin loved it, he loves taking pictures of the sunset in the golden hour but itʼs much more different at the beach.</p><p>they recreated team building games for hyunjinʼs project, their cheeks hurt already from smiling too much but they canʼt help it. they regained their energy by being together again. their friendship holds so much part of them that cannot be erased just by not meeting each other or not having time. it will always be there.</p><p>they prepared barbecue in the evening. seungmin and felix offered to cook while jisung and hyunjin found that really dangerous. they thought theyʼll never get to eat that night. seungmin burned the meat at first, felix laughed at him but he did the same when he tried. that made hyunjin and jisung clown them while theyʼre cooking the entire time.</p><p>“man, i canʼt wait to graduate and finish school,” jisung started while eating. “i hope you repeat this year,” felix responded while munching on some marshmallows. “thatʼs most likely something thatʼs going to happen to you, dumbo!” jisung replied, his brows were narrowed from felixʼs remark.</p><p>hyunjin looked at seungmin, still unbothered whilst the bickering of the two. it felt nostalgic to him. eating with the chaotic environment and the four of them just enjoying. this is how hyunjin enjoyed his meals, itʼs not much of an event, but itʼs the best chapter of his life. </p><p>before hyunjin slept he took out his camera and viewed the pictures that he took. there were stolen pictures of felix, seungmin, and jisung. he felt like he achieved something, something bigger than his dreams. he finally has faces of people in his camera other than his momʼs. faces of the important people that heʼll never regret that he met. faces of the people that woke him up while heʼs in deep slumber in the dark. it felt like a book to him and a book always has an ending. college ended with most precious smile on hyunjinʼs face.</p><p>fate is where everyone meets. it can be an end or it can be a new beginning. and for hwang hyunjin, it was the end of his loneliness and the beginning of happiness.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>a oneshot as a starter. hope you liked it! ✨</p></blockquote></div></div>
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